U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,871, whose contents are hereby specifically incorporated by reference, describes a cooled electrosurgical system in which the electrosurgical electrode is provided with an internal cavity in which a cooling medium such as water can be circulated. The cooling medium is confined to the electrode interior at the surgical site such that the cooling medium does not contact the tissue being treated.
A disadvantage of such a device is that a complicated, and thus expensive, custom handpiece and custom electrodes are necessary, not counting the expensive auxiliary units for supplying and removing the circulating fluid.